Watch The Early Short That Inspired Shane Acker's 9

Most people who study cinema in college can only dream of getting their student films seen by a couple hundred viewers on YouTube. With so many people vying for the same approximately 15 positions in the world, becoming a producer or writer or director just isn’t all that easy.

Unless you’re Shane Acker apparently. Via Gordon and the Whale and YouTube, you can now view the original short film that inspired Shane Acker’s 9, to be released on September 9. The Academy Award winning short, also titled 9, was Acker’s UCLA senior thesis, which garnered plenty of praise. Now with the full-length movie set to drop soon, it’s more than an appropriate time to revisit the original. You will not be disappointed.